My father recently picked up a 1970 tempest about 2 years ago. We've decided to rebuild the motor and go with a stroker kit of some sort. The Car now has a 400 and we are unsure of what is done to it. The only thing we know of is the edelbrock intake. We were considering going with this kit but we would like some more ideas. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ESP-51400034/ Also this car revs much higher than some other 400s. Any ideas what might be done to it if i can still run mid to high 12s with a storm of blue smoke behind it?

I was running mid to high twelves in my '64 GTO with everything pretty stock, but with a combination that was put together pretty well. At that time I had 3.90 gears, a 4 speed, factory cast iron HO manifolds, a 0.030" over 400, an early RA cam (744 aka "H" cam) and a '66 tri-power. At that time the heads were casting #16. The only work to them was a radius seat valve job and port matching.

Doesnt sound like it has too big a cam. Havent found any markings on the heads someone caked them with green paint. Shifts well past 7 grand without a problem. Not too too concerned about what it has now just kind of curious to find out what i might find in 2 months when i tear it down. I would like some advice and ideas about a stroker though.

It doesn't require a large cam. Mine idled at about 700 RPM, but with a slight performance sound. As to a 461, it depends on what you want. If it already has low gears then the 461 won't be that happy. My personal preference on the street is a 434 combination. That's a 4" stroke and a little over a 4.150" bore. The 4" stroke will still survive well with low gears. If you put highway gears in it then the 461 is definitely the way to go.

Forget Summit, if you are a Pontiac guy call Ace at PPR if you want a stroker kit and cam.
Who needs Summit when we have real Pontiac people to give our money to.
What did your dad pay for the car?
( I get tired of the "stroker" word in the Pontiac wold, all you are doing is building a 455 at that point, it might be .030 smaller bore and .250 smaller mains but its a 455.)

Hey Evans2010......... Want a boat? Lol. Very nice car, and as for my 2 cents I think it would be cool to just keep the same stroke and bore it .030 or so and have a sick high revving Pontiac! 8000 rpm anyone??

Forget Summit, if you are a Pontiac guy call Ace at PPR if you want a stroker kit and cam.
Who needs Summit when we have real Pontiac people to give our money to.
What did your dad pay for the car?
( I get tired of the "stroker" word in the Pontiac wold, all you are doing is building a 455 at that point, it might be .030 smaller bore and .250 smaller mains but its a 455.)

I'd have to debate the vendor issue.

Summit beats anyone's prices, they stock 1000 times more parts than anyone. If you need E-heads, intakes, headers Summit will be way cheaper than any Pontiac specialty dealer. Use the Pontiac dealer for what parts are Pontiac specific, but not for stuff like intakes, heads, headers- it will only cost you a lot more money- unless they are like my local machine shop, who approaches me and says "what price do I have to beat" and beats Summit's price. Then it's worth it.

Summit has a very easy return policy too. I bought 3 pairs of headers, tried them all, kept one pair and returned the rest- try that with a Pontiac specialty dealer and see what happpens.

There are advantages to using a big parts house like Summit. They don't sweat the little stuff. I also bought Victor intakes, carbs, E-heads from them and they always beat the Pontiac builders prices by a big margin.